JUDD, LEWITT & BILL. MADE BY LEHNI
Hauser & Wirth Zurich is pleased to present “JUDD, LEWITT AND BILL. MADE BY LEHNI”, an exhibition showcasing a selection of Lehni’s unique collaborations with renowned artists that resulted in exceptional artworks and furniture.
November 14, 2024 – February 22, 2025
A selection of furniture by artist Donald Judd is on display, alongside works by Swiss artist Max Bill, as well as sculptures by Sol LeWitt. The exhibition also highlights a series of artists’ portraits by Doris Lehni-Quarella, a trained photographer who helmed the company in the 1980s and ‘90s.
Founded in Zurich in 1922 by Rudolf Lehni (1885–1956) as a sheet metal workshop, situated in close proximity to the Kunsthaus Zurich, Lehni cultivated contacts with the artistic avant-garde and his workshop would become a meeting point for many artists. Lehni soon became the artist’s collaborator, bringing expertise in metalwork to the creative vision of the artist. One of the first standout partnerships was with the internationally renowned artist Max Bill, who commissioned Lehni to make his famous ‘well-relief’ in 1932. This pioneering work is viewed as particularly important since it anticipated American minimal art and Arte Povera. Although Bill would never design for the company, his influence played an important role in the company’s development from sheet metal workshop to furniture manufacturer.
In the 1970s, furniture manufacturing became a focal point for the company and close ties with the Zurich art scene saw new collaborations with artists. The Annemarie Verna Gallery in Zurich, one of the leading galleries for contemporary art in Switzerland, played an important role in introducing international artists to the Swiss metal experts. American Sol LeWitt (1928 – 2007), a pioneer and one of the founders of minimal and conceptual art who gained early recognition in Switzerland through his ties to the Zurich school of concrete artists, realised metal versions of the sculpture series ‘Structure’ (1978) and ‘Cube’ (1985).
After Doris Lehni-Quarella’s unexpected death in 1998, the leadership of Antonio Monaci and Benedetta Agostini led the company in the direction set by the previous generations of the Lehni family, safeguarding its artistic integrity and legacy. The exhibition ‘JUDD, LEWITT AND BILL. MADE BY LEHNI’ takes us through a century of collaborations at the intersection of material expertise, art and design, having worked with some of the most influential creative minds of modernism.